By Oliver Gray
Investing.com - The S&P/ASX 200 rallied 145.20 points or 1.95% to 7,589.80 on Tuesday’s session, closing near 4-month highs and finishing just 1% from record valuations as investors tracked a positive session on Wall Street overnight, while sentiment was also buoyed after Chinese data showed that factories expanded at the fastest pace in six months in December despite COVID-19 outbreaks.
Among stocks, financial companies were broadly higher with Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX:MQG) adding 2.89% to fresh record highs, Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ASX:ANZ) lifted 1.78%, Commonwealth Bank Of Australia (ASX:CBA) gained 1.5%, National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX:NAB) was up 1.94%, Bank Of Queensland Ltd. (ASX:BOQ) rallied 2.84% and Westpac Banking Corp (ASX:WBC) lifted 1.45%.
Miners also saw significant gains with lithium miners leading the charge as Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX:PLS) surged 10%, Lynas Rare Earths Ltd (ASX:LYC) added 8.46%, Avz Minerals Ltd (ASX:AVZ) surged 12.9%, while Lake Resources NL (ASX:LKE) gained 7.43%.
Heavyweight miners were mostly higher as BHP Billiton Ltd (ASX:BHP) lifted 2.12%, Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (ASX:FMG) gained 3.33% and Champion Iron Ltd (ASX:CIA) gained 3.49% while Rio Tinto Ltd (ASX:RIO) eased 0.42%.
Vulcan Energy Resources Ltd (ASX:VUL) also popped 4.23% after being granted five new exploration licences for geothermal energy and lithium in the Upper Rhine Valley, Germany.
Real estate stocks also saw gains as Mirvac Group (ASX:MGR) lifted 3.09%, Charter Hall Group (ASX:CHC) added 1.55%, Goodman Group (ASX:GMG) gained 0.98%, Stockland Corporation Ltd (ASX:SGP) lifted 3.77% and Scentre Group Ltd (ASX:SCG) added 2.85%.
On the bond markets, Australia 10-Year yields were near monthly highs of 1.737% while United States 10-Year rates eased from near 2-month highs to 1.63%.